French Parlimentary Oil Company Rep

[dawnstar@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Re: French Parlimentary Oil Company Report: Call for National Debate on Burma!!!

Dawn Star wrote:
> 
> As the Ms Faure says in her letter to Liberation, the report couldnt
> come at a worse to criticize TOTAL, oh, sorry, TOTAL-Elf-Petrofina, the
> biggest and most visible company in France.
> 
> Further, the report couldnt do more to bury the Burma problem by
> including it in such a vast montage of "everthing thats wrong with
> french oil companies" that it comes off and is now criticized as a
> leftist, politically motivated, and opportunistic attack on the french
> right wing power establishment here, identified with the oil companies
> since the beginning. You might just as well throw in colonialism in the
> whole bag too. Maybe some one else sees the value in translating this
> document, i dont, but what i will tell you now is the former foreign
> minister Charrette (UDF, which is Giscards party) denounces the report
> as "unilateral" and "non objective", and he "deplores" that it gives "a
> negative global vision of french interests", and cites the fierce
> competition, commericial, with the united states. as though the united
> states is resposible for french violations of human rights!
> 
> Another right wing MP says its just too bad the world is "unequal", but
> thats the way it is, and the industrial world needs secure energy
> resources. Ergo the support for the dictatorship.
> 
> You see, the problem here now, and this is really now a problem for the
> MPs, is to fight off the defensive counterattack by the right wing and
> pro political support of the french energy establishment. Because it
> looks like if it does not do this, that this report will go down as a
> justification to continue business as usual.
> 
> And that is now clearly the responsibility of the MP Report and its
> supporters, at InfoBirmanie, David Arnott in Switzerland and elsewhere.
> If you want to see this report go further, its up to you to push it. And
> if you dont, you and the movement are going to get buffetted by a very
> strong counter-attack.
> 
> You just do not go out and make a report like this like playing
> badminton. These guys are ruthless hard ball players.
> 
> So play hardball and fight back. And not just by publishing reports.
> Get a national debate, a public national debate on BURMA and dont let
> Burma get buried by a general all pervasive around the world summary of
> the french oil business, and what little it really knows about it!

>USE YOUR RESOURCES TO ORGANIZE THAT. 	THEN LAUNCH THE BOYCOTT DRIVE!

> OR JUST GO AHEAD AND GET THE BOYCOTT DRIVE ON AND UNDERWAY. IF NOT

> NOTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN HERE FOR ANOTHER SIX MONTHS AS TOTAL > CONSOLIDATES ITS PROFITS.

> dawn star
> by the way, did you ever ask the govt and total how much goes to > taxes, all oil and gas taxes...